buffet: Definition, Synonyms and Much More from Answers.com

A buffet is a meal serving system where patrons serve themselves. It is a popular method of feeding large numbers of people with minimal staff. The term is also used to describe a sideboard, an antique form of furniture which was sometimes used to offer the dishes of a buffet meal to guests, in a private home.

Buffet forms

One form of buffet is to have a line of food serving stalls filled with fixed portions of food; customers take whatever food items they want as they walk along and pay at the end for each piece. This form is most commonly seen in cafeterias. Another form known as the all-you-can-eat buffet is freer in form: customers pay a fixed fee and can then can help themselves to as much food as they wish to eat in a single meal. This form is found often in restaurants, especially in hotels; virtually every major casino resort in North America includes one, with some being very elaborate and extensive. In North America and Australia, restaurants specializing in Chinese and Indian cuisine commonly offer this type of buffet for lunch. A third type of buffet commonly offered in delicatessens and supermarkets is a salad bar, in which customers help themselves to lettuce and other salad ingredients, then pay by weight.

As a compromise between self-service and full table service, a staffed buffet may be offered: diners bring their own plate along the buffet line and are given a portion from a server at each station. This method is prevalent at catered meetings where diners are not paying specifically for their meal.

A traditional form of buffet in Sweden is the smörgåsbord, which literally means table of sandwiches.

Buffets are effective for serving large numbers of people at once. For this reason, they are prevalent in institutional settings, such as business conventions or large catered parties. Another advantage of buffets compared to table service is that diners have a great deal of choice and the ability to closely inspect food before selecting it. Since a buffet involves people serving themselves, it is considered an informal form of dining, less elegant than table service. It is, however, usually the preferred serving method for large groups, even in formal settings such as weddings, due to its logistical advantages.

History

While serving oneself at a meal has a long history, the modern buffet was developed in France in the 18th century, soon spreading throughout Europe. The term originally referred to the sideboard where the food was served, but eventually became applied to the form. The buffet became popular in the English-speaking world in the second half of the nineteenth century.

When the possession of gold and silver has been a measure of solvency of a regime, the display of it, in the form of plates and vessels, is more a political act than a gesture of conspicuous consumption. The 16th-century French term buffet applied both to the display itself and to the furniture on which it was mounted, often draped with rich textiles, but more often as the century advanced an elaborately carved cupboard surmounted by tiers of shelves. In England such a buffet was called a court cupboard. Prodigal displays of plate were probably first revived at the fashionable court of Burgundy and adopted in France. The Baroque displays of silver and gold that were affected by Louis XIV of France were immortalized in paintings by Alexandre-François Desportes and others, before Louis' plate and his silver furniture had to be sent to the mint to pay for the wars at the end of his reign.

During the 18th century more subtle demonstrations of solvency were preferred. A buffet was revived in England and France at the end of the century, when new ideals of privacy made a modicum of self-service at breakfast-time appealing, even among those who could have had a footman behind each chair. In The Cabinet Dictionary of 1803 Thomas Sheraton gave a neoclassical design and observed that "a buffet may, with some propriety, be restored to modern use, and prove ornamental to a modern breakfast-room, answering as the china cabinet|repository of a tea equipage"

20th century

In a 1922 housekeeping book entitled How to Prepare and Serve a Meal, Lillian B. Lansdown wrote:

The informal luncheon or lunch—originally the light meal eaten between breakfast and dinner, but now often taking the place of dinner, the fashionable hour being one (or half after if cards are to follow) —is of two kinds. The "buffet" luncheon, at which the guests eat standing; and the luncheon served at small tables, at which the guests are seated....

The knife is tabooed at the “buffet” lunch, hence all the food must be such as can be eaten with fork or spoon. As a rule, friends of the hostess serve... The following dishes cover the essentials of a “buffet” luncheon. Beverages: punch, coffee, chocolate (poured from urn, or filled cups brought from pantry on tray); hot entrées of various sorts (served from chafing dish or platter) preceded by hot bouillon; cold entrées, salads, lobster, potatoes, chicken, shrimp, with heavy dressings; hot rolls, wafer-cut sandwiches (lettuce, tomato, deviled ham, etc.); small cakes, frozen creams and ices.^[1]

The informal luncheon at small tables calls for service by a number of maids, hence the “buffet” plan is preferable.

The "all you can eat" buffet has been ascribed to Herb Macdonald, a Las Vegas hotel manager who introduced the idea in 1946 . In his 1965 novel The Muses of Ruin, William Pearson wrote, of the Las Vegas buffet:

At midnight every self-respecting casino premières its $1.50 buffet—the eighth wonder of the world, the one true art form this androgynous harlot of cities has delivered herself of.... We marvel at the Great Pyramids, but they were built over decades; the midnight buffet is built daily. Crushed-ice castles and grottoes chill the shrimp and lobster. Sculptured aspic is scrolled with Paisley arabesques. They are, laid out with reverent artistry: hors d'oeuvres, relish, salads, and sauces; crab, herring oyster, sturgeon, octopus, and salmon; turkey, ham, roast beef, casseroles, fondues, and curries; cheeses, fruits and pastries. How many times you go through the line is a private matter between you and your capacity, and then between your capacity and the chef's evil eye.^[2]

There is a growing tendency to misuse the word "buffet" to indicate an "all you can eat" meal, even if the food isn't already prepared and laid on a table, but rather you pay a set price and can order anything from a menu, as many times as you like. These should just be called AYCE, or "all-you-can-eat", to avoid confusion.

Popular buffets

In the United States, Old Country Buffet is a large buffet chain, and part of the larger Buffets, Inc. corporation, who also owns "Country Buffet" and "HomeTown Buffet." HomeTown Buffet did not invent, but has largely popularized the "scatter buffet." This merely refers to the layout of the dishes served; foods are grouped in a number of separate pavilions instead of in a long line. This aids in customers retrieving foods they wish to eat with ease and helps speed movement of customers throughout the restaurant.Another popular buffet is Golden Corral.

Although sometimes viewed as less elegant, several high end hotels in the United States have brunch buffets featuring gourment entrees, and several hotels in Las Vegas, such as the Rio's Carnival World Buffet amongst many, have achieved popularity and good critiques for the selection of entrees and service.

Buffets are a popular form of dining in Las Vegas, Nevada and Atlantic City, New Jersey, where buffets are typically very large and boast a large variety of foods.

Other restaurant chains well-known for their buffets include Shanghai Buffet and Ponderosa Steakhouse.

In Australia, buffet chains like Foodstar serve a large number of patrons with Asian cuisine, Carvery, Seafood, Salads and Desserts. Sizzler is another prominent restaurant offering a buffet.

In 1990 Big Lukes in Newcastle Upon Tyne became the United Kingdom's first U.S. style 'all you can eat' buffet restaurant.

In Russia, the chain MooMoo (or MyMy in Russian)^{[citation needed]} serves all its food through a buffet.

In Brazil, comida a kilo or comida por kilo - literally, "food by the kilo" - restaurants are common. This is a cafeteria style buffet in which diners are billed by the weight of the food selected, excluding the weight of the plate. The Brazilian rodizio style is all-you-can-eat, but is not self-service.

In Japan, a buffet or smorgasbord is known as a Viking. Dessert Vikings are very popular in Japan where one can eat from a buffet full of desserts. Although, confusion sometimes ensues by those not familiar with Japanese pronunciation of English whereby one may think they are invited to go desert biking and end up at a dessert buffet.

Buffets are also often found on cruise ships.

References

1. ^ *How to Prepare and Serve a Meal, Project Gutenberg etext of the 1922 book by Lillian B. Lansdown
2. ^ Pearson, William (1965). The Muses of Ruin. McGraw-Hill.

See also

• Buffet car